The Oskaloosa cross country teams competed in the Little Hawkeye Conference meet Monday at Newton.

On a cold and rainy day, Sara Dickinson ran away with the conference individual championship running a time of 14:27. Brooke VanHouweling also earned all-conference honors with her fourth-place finish in a time of 16:12.

“Sara and Brooke ran really well in leading the team to a sixth-place finish with a score of 131 points,” Oskaloosa coach Keith Comfort said. “Jess Grahek (27th), Lyric Morris (47th) and Courtney Converse (52) rounded out the scoring for the Indians with Paige Walter (54th) and Dana VanRenterghem (60th) also running for the Indians.

“Sara has had an outstanding season and I believe she is the first Oskaloosa girl to win a conference cross country title. I am very proud of her accomplishment. The other girls on our varsity team have had solid seasons as well and we have improved throughout the year. I thought Jess Grahek ran with a little fire tonight and had a nice race. Courtney and Paige have been solid contributors all year long in their first cross country seasons. This team has the makings of being a very strong team, if we can just put the pieces all together on the same night.”

The boys team finished in eighth place with a score of 191 points. John Andersen was the top finisher with an 18th-place finish in 18:15. The other scorers for the boys team were Ryan McPherren (36th), Bryan Kunz (44th), Ryan Wells (46th) and Isaiah Thompson (47th). Shannon Koski and Max Holle also ran for the Indians.

“The boys ran pretty well, although I thought that the weather affected our performance a little,” Comfort said. “To be more competitive, we have to learn to run past the point of being comfortable and feel the pain a little. We are not quite at that point yet. Our effort is good, we just have to take another step if we hope to be competitive at the district meet next week.”

In the JV races, the girls finished in third place with 101 points. Alisha Poncy led the way with a 15th-place finish in a time of 20:05. Avery Whitis (18th), Anthea Anderson (20th), Megan Adams (23rd) and Amanda Stefanik (25th) rounded out the scoring. Ginny Lane also ran for the Indians.

“I thought Alisha and Avery had strong races,” Comfort said. “They are both seniors, as is Mica Doolan, who was unable to run tonight, and are winding down their cross country careers and they both looked really strong. The other girls are all freshman and did a real nice job for us this year. They have showed some good potential and will be key contributors next season.”

In the boys JV race, the Indians ran to a fifth-place finish with 150 points. Martin Hassel and Jon Fash led the way with 24th- and 25th-place finishes. Alex Gile, Matt McLellan and Alex Hyland rounded out the scoring.

“We have had a big group of JV boys this year and they have all worked hard and showed steady improvement through the year,” Comfort said. “There are a couple of seniors in this group as well, Jon, Matt, Brandon Wickenkamp, Chris North and Ben Waters who all wound up their cross country careers tonight. They have been good leaders and hard workers and I appreciate their efforts with the team.”

The middle school teams completed their seasons tonight. The girls ran a great race and finished second with a score of 66 points.

Sarandyn Curtis led the team again tonight with a fifth-place finish, with Riley Berg in eighth. Angela Hyland (16th), Stephanie Smith (18th) and Natalie Whitis (19th) finished the scoring for the Indians.

“We have a great group of middle school girls and they will be instrumental in helping improve the high school team as they move up in the next couple of years,” Comfort said. “We have some very nice talent in the middle school right now. They have shown steady improvement and I am very happy and proud of their second-place effort tonight.”

The boys finished in seventh place with 171 points. Adam Genskow led the way with an 18th-place finish with Ben Rurup (20th), Bryan Herr (35th), Braden Diggens (46th) and Andrew Busse (52nd).

“We did not have a lot of depth on the team, but had some fine efforts all year long,” Comfort said. “The boys showed improvement and I think they have the potential to be good high school runners as they move up the ranks. Adam did a nice job for us this year and I see some real potential in him. I thought they did a really good job tomight.”